


For a While

by Faefauna



Category: ONF (Band)
Genre: Accidental Marriage, Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Break Up, Drunken Shenanigans, Feelings Realization, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, Light-Hearted, M/M, Post-Break Up, Real World Locations (US), Slow writing, Tourist Spots, Vacation, additional tags to be added with new chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:34:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29886723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faefauna/pseuds/Faefauna
Summary: After Minkyun was stood up on the day of his Las Vegas wedding, everyone went to trash their livers to drown out any emotions. The night became a blur, and when Minkyun woke up, he had a lot of questions. However, he decided to just enjoy a planned honeymoon trip, even if he it wasn't with a wife, he used it to get to know someone he had wanted to for longer than he had realized.
Relationships: (Side) Lee Changyoon | E-Tion/Shim Jaeyoung | Wyatt, Mizuguchi Yuto | U/Park Minkyun | MK
Comments: 14
Kudos: 19





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hyosgardens](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hyosgardens/gifts).



> Hello!
> 
> I miss traveling a lot.  
> This is something simple and a little slow at times, to relax with. I hope you enjoy this.
> 
> Also, blame Hyosgardens for this being long. This spiralled far out of proportion thanks to them...  
> Although, as I am not from the US and also have no clue about it, I do wanna massively thank them for helping me plan this trip!!

"That bitch!"

Minkyun frantically looked around him, even though the thing that got him mad was a text message.

[I'm sorry, but I've found someone else.]

"Kyun, what happened?" Changyoon asked him after the outburst. Minkyun turned his phone around and Changyoon echoed him: "That bitch!"

"I know!"

Changyoon and Minkyun went to yell about Minkyun's, now, ex-fiancé, while the phone was passed around. From Hyojin to Seungjun to Jaeyoung and lastly it was held by Yuto.  
Everytime a new person in their group read the message they joined in on the cussing. 

Minkyun felt more than let down. Humiliated. He had done everything his fiancé wanted, booked a typical Vegas wedding and even paid for everything after working his ass off. Everything was accounted for; the venue was reserved, the hotel rooms were already booked and even a surprise trip afterwards was planned.

“She just left?! What?! Where is she?” Changyoon hissed.

“I don’t know!” Minkyun gave back, “she was already acting weird when we got here, but I didn’t think she would fuck off with someone else and let me know only minutes before the fucking wedding was supposed to kick off.”

It had already been too quiet so he had started getting nervous. With a whip of his body, he turned around to wander into the chapel and was met with an empty space, no staff, no music, none of her family was even present or waiting.  
In his rage he went to call her but was instantly hung up on.

[My family already knows. Don't call me anymore], she texted after.

"Ooooh, alright. That's how much this meant," Minkyun bit at his phone.

“What did she say?” Hyojin asked.

Minkyun clenched his jaw in frustration as he spat his words. “That she already told everyone and that I can’t call her anymore.”

“What?! That's awful!”

“I fucking know, she could’ve told us sooner,” Minkyun waved at nothing, “so I don’t look like an ass just standing here waiting.”

"Alright, she isn't worth it. You know what? Come on Minkyun," Hyojin said and slung his arm around the taller, "she was always annoying. You know this too."

"We had our differences but this is a bit much."

"I agree. But the fact that she did _this_...” Hyojin gestured around him to point out the situation. “You're better than that. Someone that leaves someone the day of their wedding, gave up on marrying you long ago. She was only after your money probably."

"Yes," Changyoon agreed, "it's your wedding day. Don't be so down."

Minkyun stared at him. "My whole wedding is fucking cancelled…"

"Ah, true."

"Who cares. We're in Vegas,"—Hyojin spread his arms—"let's not let that bitch ruin this whole trip."

"I like your thinking," Seungjun chimed in, "she isn't worth it Kyun. Your parents couldn't come anyway, it's just us...let's party."

Minkyun sighed. "Mom was devastated when she found out she couldn't attend the wedding. Maybe it was fate."

"Alright then!" Changyoon grabbed Minkyun's wrist. "Let's drop everything at the hotel and drink those sorrows away."

After ample cheers, the evening turned blurry fast as they swapped out a wedding dinner for devil juice. 

Bar after bar, shot after shot; Minkyun started to lose track of his environment. His emotions were drowned by alcohol and soon his memory left him too. He mindlessly followed the others, being shoved into clubs, kicked out of casinos or laughed at by his friends while throwing up.  
After he stopped having the ability to count, he got taken to another place with bright lights and loud angelic music. He thought he had died, but a warm feeling on his lips not even half an hour later, told him he was still alive. More happened, that much he figured, but what or with whom, he had no clue.

——————————————————————-

Minkyun woke up with regret pulsating through his head. His brain abused his skull from the inside, yelling at him to make better decisions. His body was definitely punishing him for whatever he had done last night.  
He didn't remember anything, but with how awful he was feeling, it couldn't have been healthy. 

With a dry throat and an ocean of nausea around him, he stepped out of bed to go find the bathroom in this weird hotel room. On the way, with the help of the morning sun through sloppily closed blinds, did he figure out it was the bride's suit he had booked. At least it was comforting to know that he was in a room he was allowed to be in.  
It was especially reassuring because he was naked.

Everything seemed tempting to fall asleep on, the soft carpet, the pretty sofa chairs decorating the corner or the royal bed he just stepped out of—yet he forced himself to at least find the bathroom first.

The water tasted extra sweet when he finally got to hydrate the desert his body had become. He wondered how the others were doing, but his mind was still a little too tired to convince him to go look for them, and he also just looked like a mess. His cheeks hollowed out from feeling sick and his eyes sunken in from lack of sleep, told him to go catch more shut-eye first, a mark on his skin told him why he might not have gotten as much, it revealed nightly activities. He grew nervous staring at the hickey on his shoulder, but decided that that was also an investigation for later.

After stepping out of the tiled room again, he closed the bathroom door, hurting his own ears with how clumsily loud he did it. A soft groan answered the loud bang of the door. The noise came from his bed. It was a small—familiar—voice.

Half of him, instantly woke up while he cautiously walked to the bed.

"...Yuto?" he tried. 

"Hmm," a raspy voice responded. "...Minkyun?" 

The regret in his skull instantly increased when he started to guess what happened.  
Yuto of all people...

Yuto sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Fuck. My head hurts." He passed one glance at Minkyun and quickly turned the other way. "Please, wear some clothes."

Only then, did Minkyun realise again that he was nude. With a quick eye, he scanned the room for his underwear and found his clothes were scattered around. After locating at least his lower garments he turned back to Yuto.

"What happened last night?" he mumbled carefully. This whole scene was very typical but he didn't want to jump to _that_ conclusion just yet. 

"I—… I can guess a few things," Yuto muttered back, "but I don't know anything for sure either."

The fact that his eyes were still not met, made Minkyun a little uneasy, he wondered if Yuto was angry. Careful steps brought Minkyun closer, and then saw he was justified to jump to _that_ conclusion. 

Yuto had a few hickeys peppered over his neck. They were clearly visible with him still looking the other way and not having taken the blanket with him when he sat up. 

Blood rushed to Minkyun’s cheeks as he stared at the others elegant neck and toned chest.

"Did we—?" he went to ask but Yuto interrupted him. 

"My ass hurts so probably."

"Oh God, I'm so sorry," Minkyun breathed instantly. He sat on the bed and laid his aching head in his hands.

I really got dumped on my wedding day, got piss drunk and then slept with one of my friends...?

He didn't know if he was feeling worse about; being dumped or waking up next to Yuto—the only one of his friends he saw as somewhat innocent.  
The others were all loose cannons he knew he didn't need to worry about, and if anything, Jaeyoung would take care of them, as Minkyun himself wasn't the most responsible either.  
Jaeyoung was a newer asset to their friend-group, as Changyoon had introduced him as his boyfriend a short few years back. However, out of all of them, Minkyun knew Yuto the least well. They had only met through Seungjun back when he was a regular at the bar Minkyun and Hyojin worked at. 

Even though it had been a while now since then, he never got any alone time with Yuto. From what Minkyun had gathered through their surface-level conversations, Yuto always appeared fairly reserved and like he had the most brain cells between his temples. So how bad did yesterday get? For Yuto to end up on the other side of his bed.

He raised his head again and noticed it might not have been that they 'just slept'.

A pretty whitegold ring decorated one of his fingers, the ring he had bought for his wedding. His wedding that didn't go through…

"Yuto…" Minkyun started his sentence but he didn't even know where to begin. "Yuto, I'm sorry."

The apology got Yuto confused. "For what?"

"I don't know, but I should apologise. I don't know what has gone on nor what happened between us but…"

“But what?” Yuto interrupted, his tone a bit sharp. “It's fine,” he continued with a softer voice, “I don't mind that we... slept together… do you?"

"No. No, that's not it." 

Minkyun was a little surprised by his almost instantaneous answer, it was blurted out without thinking about it. Assessing it, he really didn't mind it, if it was any of the others he felt he would have felt a lot more weird about it, but Yuto seemed different.

"Can you… look the other way though,” Yuto’s tense lips curled into a smile, “I want to dress a little."

"Oh, sure. Of course."

Minkyun turned back and stared at the wall in front of him, feeling the bed shake as Yuto got out. With nervously sharp ears, Minkyun followed every footstep and rustling until the bathroom door closed. The shower started rushing soon after.

Minkyun, surprisingly, didn't feel as heartbroken as he would've thought. His ex-fiancé wasn't even on his mind. Maybe he even felt relieved he was stood up on.  
He ran the awful things that happened between them through his mind and he nearly laughed at his past self for wanting to marry such a person.  
Potentially, it was only because of a dumb sense of responsibility, some sense of duty towards his parents, ‘to get married and have children,’ live some prestigious life that the people around him told him he should.  
Ignore his true feelings and preferences and just go get settled.  
Maybe after all those horrendous days of fighting did fate decide to give him a loving hand. Only for one time, to have his girlfriend leave. But it turned cruel again that same night; making him sleep with one of his friends... 

The regret he was feeling wasn't because Yuto was a man. Be it male or female or other, Minkyun didn't care. Even if his parents prefered he'd end up with a woman, Minkyun rather wanted to end up with someone he loved, yet he wasn't following his own mind. He knew he didn't love his previous fiancé, he loved the idea of fulfilling others' wishes.  
He tried to guess that he mostly felt regretful because it went like _this_ between him and Yuto. Something in him had always wanted to get closer to Yuto, but he feared this would only set them apart more. Even though Yuto said he was fine with it, it might’ve just been out of politeness.

He sighed and grabbed his phone, seeing if any of the others were awake yet. He had multiple missed calls from his parents and a few unknowing congratulation texts from colleagues and acquaintances.

He quickly called his parents to explain everything to them: admitting he was stood-up on, but lying about anything that happened after—until Yuto came wandering out of the bathroom again.

"Say, is this yours?" he asked and held out the same ring Minkyun had on.

With a careful touch, Minkyun plucked it out of the other’s hand. "Well… it was meant for my fiancé."

"Oh… uhmm—"

A knock interrupted Yuto.

"Yeah?" Minkyun answered and walked to open the door.

Seungjun was standing in front of him, looking horrible; his hair untamed and his eyes tired. "Oh, you are awake?" he asked.

"Yeah, barely." 

"Do you know where Yuto is? He isn't in his room. Changyoon came to us but we don’t know either."

“I’m sorry for worrying you,” Yuto spoke up from the other side of the room. After opening the blinds, he walked a little closer to show himself.

“Oh, you’re here. Thank god,” Seungjun sighed and grasped his heart before clocking on. “What are you doing here, though?” 

“We both have no clue,” Minkyun mumbled, “do you have any idea what went on last night?”

“Not really. I just remember a fuck load of bars, though it could also be just one, because they are all blending together.”

“Hmm…”

“I do remember Changyoon dragging us around a bunch. Maybe we can find out more from him?” Seungjun suggested. He let his eyes jump between the two uneasy figures standing before him. “Did something happen between you two?”

“...Probably,” Minkyun admitted seeing Yuto grow shy as he shifted his vision next to him.

“Yuto, are you alright?” Seungjun asked with sudden concern. 

The other just nodded, making Seungjun turn his expression again and cheerfully invite the two to join everyone in his and Hyojin's room when they were ready.  
Their hangovers made them nauseous so they didn’t feel like sitting in the fumes of a hotel breakfast. Seungjun and Hyojin’s room seemed like the better option for a gathering place. 

When the door was closed again Yuto let out a nearly inaudible sigh. 

“Do you want to borrow some of my clothes?” Minkyun offered when he noticed Yuto had changed into yesterday’s clothes, since his suitcase wasn’t here.

“It’s fine, I’ll just go to my own room.”

“Hey… again, I’m-”

“Please don’t apologise again,” Yuto intercepted and walked out the door, not passing another glance in the other’s direction. 

After getting himself washed up and in a proper outfit, Minkyun made his way to Hyojin and Seungjun’s room. Everyone was already there, and with Seungjun being akin to a gossip aunt, Minkyun knew everyone was already informed about where Yuto had ended up.

“Okay,” Changyoon started when they all found a spot in the hotel room, “does anyone have a recollection of what happened?” he asked. 

The room filled with a bunch of hungover, sheepish looks. Everyone hoped that the others would remember, but for the whole room, yesterday night was a blank. 

Changyoon sighed. “Okay do we have any clues?"

"None that I know of. I’m surprised enough we all just woke up in our rooms," Hyojin shrugged.

"Almost all of us," Changyoon reminded before shifting his attention, “Yuto, do you remember how you got to Kyun’s room?”

Yuto scratched his lower arm. “Uhm...not really.”

“Do you know _why_ you might've gone there?”

“I don’t remember, but we can...guess.”

In his nervousness, Minkyun fiddled with the ring on his finger, which he forgot to take off before, and it made him ask: “Does anyone maybe know if we went back to the chapel?”

“The venue you booked?” Hyojin wondered.

“Yes…”

“I don’t think so. Since it was all cancelled, I don't think we could've gone.”

Minkyun looked to his right, seeing Yuto’s want to sink into the floor increase with every second Minkyun got closer to exposing what happened.

The whitegold ring twinkled in the hotel room light as Minkyun held up his hand to show it. “Yuto was wearing the other one… that’s why I asked.”

“Did you two get… married?” Changyoon mumbled with wide eyes.

“Well, I don’t _know_ ,” Minkyun corrected, “but I can’t think of any other reason why we would just randomly be wearing my wedding rings…”

Hyojin sighed and rested his head in his hands. “Why couldn’t we have had at least one of us stay sober…?”

Ignoring the other’s complaint, Changyoon argued to Minkyun, “that doesn't explain why he was in your room, though.”

"We…might've…'consummated our marriage' so to speak," Minkyun vagued in a mumble.

Changyoon opened his mouth to speak, but decided it was better not to.

Seungjun was the only one who saw a light within this situation. “Who cares? It’s fine. Yuto is a better catch than that runaway bitch.”

“Seungjun, please,” Yuto whined to his friend, who just chuckled at him.

“But what are we going to do now?” Jaeyoung chimed in, “if you two got married, don’t you need to file for divorce and everything?”

“It’s not like that much instantly changes when married, so there is no rush to do so," Seungjun spoke up in the others' place, "we are still supposed to be in Vegas for another day and you still have your honeymoon afterwards.” He pointed at Minkyun and Yuto.

“I don’t have a wife to go on that honeymoon with, and also it’s more just a small trip, not really a ‘honeymoon’," Minkyun corrected, "but anyway, I don’t feel like going alone,” he argued softly, keeping his voice quiet to minimise any increase in headache.

“But you do have a husband,” Seungjun countered, “and it’s booked, so just go through with it.”

“Seungjun stop,” Yuto said promptly but was only met with a devilish smile from the other. 

“Why?” Seungjun cooed.

“It’s fine, I’m not going to force you to go,” Minkyun laughed softly to Yuto, “do any of you want to go on it in my stead?” he offered, “it’ll be nearly free for you.”

“No, Kyun, it’s your trip,” Changyoon pushed, “I know you’ve been looking forward to this.”

“Yeah, but I can always go another time.”

“As if you are in the United States _that_ often…”

“Indeed,” Seungjun joined in, “and since Hyojin and I have to work again soon we can’t join anyway. Also I doubt Jaeyoung or Changyoon have time either,” he looked a bit intensely at the couple seated on a couch in the corner and Changyoon grew a sly smile.  
“So, that leaves Yuto as your partner,” Seungjun concluded.

“Just ignore him,” Yuto muttered, “you don’t have to go, if you don’t want to.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to go on this trip, I just don’t want to go alone nor force you to join me,” Minkyun explained.

“I won’t say no to a trip, but I don’t have the money for it.”

“That’s fine, I paid for almost everything already anyway,” Minkyun curled his lips shyly, “and since this was my doing, I’ll cover the cost of the rest too, no problem.”

“I know you have the money but I don’t want to leech off you.”

“See, he’s a better catch than your previous women,” Seungjun grinned and Yuto shot him a glare. 

“Seungjun, I swear to God, shut up," he snarled.

“It’s alright," Minkyun continued, ignoring Seungjun's meddling, "I’ll be dragging you everywhere, it’s only right for me to pay… So if you don’t mind. Would you join me?” 

Yuto grew a kind smile. “Sure...I’d love to.”

“Great!” Seungjun jumped up and instantly sat down again as his hangover got mad at him, “We'll go shopping today, then?” he continued with less energy.

“Yeah, sure,” Minkyun shrugged, “I doubt you packed for a week-long trip?” he asked Yuto.

“No, I have a suit and this set of clothes,” the questioned gestured to himself, “besides that I have my camera…”

“Well, I guess that’s our mission today then,” Changyoon smiled, “give Yuto something stylish for his trip.”

"...So that's the conclusion, then?" Jaeyoung asked, "no one knows what happened yesterday and we guess Minkyun and Yuto got married and we're just sending them on a trip?"

"Yes?" Changyoon confirmed as if it was normal. 

Jaeyoung raised his eyebrows in amazement. "Alright, sure. We are all not in prison, so I guess whatever happened yesterday wasn't too bad."

"Exactly," Seungjun sang, “let's all meet up downstairs in an hour, and go shopping."

They all voted yes, and got up to leave again. Minkyun saw Yuto stay behind, he seemed annoyed at Seungjun, so he figured that there was something unresolved between them. While Minkyun was curious, it wasn't his place to meddle, so he left to his room.

A heavy thud ran through his hotel room when Minkyun sat on the bed, trying to hopefully recount anything, but the thinking just made his headache worse.  
While going to clean yesterday's clothes, he noticed they reeked of alcohol and other not-so-lovely smells. In an attempt to air them out somewhat, he found a clothes hanger to put everything on and hung it on a chair. 

A small knock was heard on his door.

When he opened it, Changyoon looked at him, a lot more refreshed than earlier.

“Is everything alright?” he asked.

Minkyun tilted his head. “Yeah, why?

“Well… because, you know, your girlfriend left you…”

“Ah, yeah, that,” Minkyun mumbled and stepped aside to let Changyoon in. 

Minkyun wasn’t surprised the other was here to check up, he was a childhood friend after all. No matter how aloof Changyoon might act, he always had the best intentions at heart and genuinely cared.

“To be honest,” Minkyun continued, “it’s not great for my self-esteem, but I’m not as devastated as I expected. I don’t know if I still liked her, now that I look back on it.”

“Then why the fuck were you marrying her?!” Changyoon questioned.

“I don’t fucking know alright,” Minkyun sighed, “given that I also just randomly married Yuto, maybe I just don’t make the smartest marriage plans.”

“Well, this sounds cruel, but I’m glad this went the way it did, then.”

Minkyun looked up. “What?”

“I don’t want you to end up with someone you don’t actually like, and Yuto is not that bad of a guy.”

“Just because we are married doesn’t mean we’re in a relationship.”

“Never thought I’d hear that sentence,” Changyoon chuckled and the other joined in on laughing at the situation.

“We’ll just file for divorce after we come back from this trip,” Minkyun hummed.

“Enjoy your trip first,” Changyoon advised.

“I will. Besides, I don’t know Yuto that well so it will be fun to get to know him.”

The positivity made Changyoon grin and ask if the other was done already. After getting a confirmation, they both headed out to meet the others downstairs and set off into Las Vegas.

The light was blinding and they all needed a second to adjust to the vibrancy of life around them. They kept their general energy low, to tolerate the hangovers that haunted the group.

"Okay, where do we get clothes?" Seungjun wondered as they stepped out of the roman themed hotel.

"Uhm, I know there is a fairly decent shopping mall a 20 minute walk from here," Minkyun remembered and it took Hyojin a bit by surprise. 

"How do you know that?"

"You know how _she_ was," Minkyun said with a bit of a mocking tone, "shopping was her favourite hobby so I looked up some places."

"True, alright. Maybe the longer stroll will do our hangovers some good."

"Alright then," Minkyun hummed and took the lead to walk them towards the mall.

"I still can't believe you booked this hotel…" Changyoon muttered as he took in the impressive yet unfitting architecture of the property. 

Minkyun chuckled. "They are just very good at making things _look_ impressive here."

He was answered with a scoff from Changyoon. "I'm sure it still costs a lot."

"Maybe."

"I mean, only the sleek streets and neon make me believe this is indeed Vegas and not Rome," Changyoon remarked.

Jaeyoung laughed endearingly at his boyfriend while trying to keep him from walking into things as best as possible, since Changyoon had his eyes more fixated on the massive buildings surrounding them.

Eventually, they left the roman part behind and walked along more streets lined with palm trees and high buildings. Some seem to have regretted agreeing to walk the distance, while it wasn't scorching, the sun was definitely threatening, and squinting wasn’t pleasant with a headache. 

Along the way, every building seemed like it had its own time period and culture; to the left of them was a place with a long wooden walkway, yet in the distance was a high orange modern style building, and on the other side of the street was a structure which rather seemed to be made out of sandstone.

Seungjun and Changyoon kept blabbering on about nearly everything, remarking on styles and interesting details. Hyojin mainly tried his best to keep up but seemed the least used to a hangover. Jaeyoung got bugged by Changyoon a lot but kept a loving look in his eye, and Yuto was mostly silently taking pictures, sometimes he would stop for a shot and then quickly hop back to the group. Minkyun just kept the lead, looking at his phone every so often to check if they were still heading the right way.

"Wait!" Changyoon yelled when they were standing next to a big screen with some familiar faces, "darling, look!'

"Huh?" Jaeyoung answered.

"That's that Marvel exhibition I showed you!"

"Oooh, yeah."

"Man, it looks cool…" Changyoon gushed.

Minkyun overheard them and joined the conversation. "You can go there tomorrow, we'll need to head off"—he gestured between himself and Yuto—"but your flight is only late in the day, so it should be doable."

Changyoon beamed a smile as he turned to his boyfriend. "Can we?!"

"Yeah, of course," Jaeyoung agreed and got rewarded with a kiss on the cheek.

"Do you guys want to join?" Changyoon asked Seungjun and Hyojin.

"We could, if we don't find anything else to do."

"Alright," Changyoon said excitedly, "but let's go to the mall for now then."

"We're already there," Minkyun pointed out, "that big building with the U.F.O thing there is the mall."

They all marveled at the decor of the shopping mall, and later, worried about the pricing of it all. Minkyun said it was fine, since this was all his doing anyway, but Yuto insisted on at least paying some of the things bought.  
After wandering around, and getting lost a bunch, they finally found a few fitting shops for Yuto to get new outfits from.

With the mall being obnoxiously large, they felt it was safest to all stay together, resulting in Yuto getting dragged around by Seungjun and Changyoon to find stylish clothing.

"Where are we even going?" Yuto asked Minkyun when he got handed a bunch of random items by Changyoon.

"Let's keep that a surprise," Minkyun grinned.

"How do I know what to pack then?"

"Don't worry," the taller chuckled, "it won't be anything adventurous. Can you walk well on those shoes, though? They won't hurt?"

"Yepp," Yuto confirmed, tapping his feet on the ground, "I at least anticipated that today would be a lot of walking."

"Then just get clothes fit for this weather, it shouldn't get much hotter," Minkyun shrugged, "maybe a cap or something could be useful."

While being forced into multiple outfits, Yuto tried to pry information about their trip out of Minkyun. However, no matter how many attempts were made, Minkyun wouldn't budge.

“Oh...maybe a shirt with a higher collar,” Changyoon observed when Yuto walked out of the fitting room with a rather large shirt, showing some of the spots along the lower side of his neck.

Growing a slight blush, Yuto hurried back behind the curtain while Changyoon went to grab another shirt, failing to conceal a horrid grin.

During their shopping, Hyojin slowly seemed to be doing better again, and when the others were all done, he was hungry. 

Yuto had acquired a couple of shirts, pants and other items necessary for his surprise trip and spent the rest of their time here wandering behind the group as they found their own stores to buy things from. As they slowly all got hungry, they relaxedly looked for something to eat. Although their stomachs rumbled, their headaches still pulsated, they knew their bodies wouldn’t tolerate anything heavy, so they just found something simple to fill themselves with before leaving this overcrowded building.

“What shall we do in the evening?” Hyojin asked when they walked the same route back, only this time with a lot more baggage.

The evening air was warm and soft. The sun was starting to lie low, colouring the scenery with a typical orange.

“Why not the strip? Since we don’t remember what we did there yesterday,” Minkyun suggested.

“Sure,” Hyojin affirmed, “I hope we haven’t been banned from any places.”

“How bad do you think it went?!” Seungjun asked loudly.

“We have you and Changyoon with us, you know you can cause chaos.”

“Oh, let us be,” Seungjun scoffed, “I’m sure it’s fine. Let’s take a two hour break and meet here again later.”

They all hummed their agreements and went to their rooms.  
The room-keeping had come by and placed everything perfectly again, making Minkyun notice the giant congratulatory bouquet on one of the tables. 

Remembering what it was for, he still felt a little humiliated being stood-up on. It did surprise him that even her family seemed to not care. He knew they were also staying in this hotel but he somehow hadn't encountered nor heard from them yet, and that all while he had tried his best to meet every one of _her_ demands after working his ass off.  
It wasn't like he was short on cash or that this was a lifelong sum of money for him, still, he felt betrayed. He got a whole wedding package at this hotel, including a limousine ride and tickets to the spa for the day after. Yet, nothing was used and he ended up black out drunk and waking up next to a friend.

_At least I’ll still get a fun vacation out of it._

He laughed at his own positivity, it was a vacation with someone he didn’t know well, fun wasn’t guaranteed. He was looking forward to it nonetheless, he wondered how different Yuto would be, but got taken out of that thought with a knock on his door.

“Minkyun?” Yuto’s voice called.

“Yeah? Come in.”

The door opened and Yuto stepped in holding a few items of clothing.

“Do you have room in your suitcase?” he asked, “mine is full…”

“Oh, yeah, probably.” Minkyun stepped to his suitcase to open it and rearrange some stuff. 

The tiny ring box he had mindlessly thrown in there almost fell out when he moved the contents of the suitcase. He put the box back and took out the backpack he had packed for storage during the trip.

Yuto looked a little nervous while handing over his clothes. “I know we already bought everything for this vacation,” he mumbled, “but is it really alright for me to come with you?”

Minkyun smiled at the politeness. “Of course, I’m happy that I don’t have to cancel or go alone.”

“But you booked this for your...ex, you know?”

“So?”

“You must have been looking forward to going with her, so...I don’t know…”

“To be honest, currently, I’m more looking forward to never seeing her again,” Minkyun chuckled, “but if you’re uncomfortable with it, you don’t have to go, Seungjun _did_ kind of push you.”

Yuto quickly put his hands up. “No, no, that’s not it at all. I’m happy to join you. I’m just making sure.”

“Don’t worry about it then. Let’s just relax, alright?”

Yuto smiled. “Sure.” 

“Oh, that reminds me.” Minkyun jumped up after having put all Yuto’s things into his suitcase, and went to the bouquet to grab a pass that was placed underneath it.

“What?”

“This is a couples spa pass for this hotel’s spa, but since I won’t be using it, I’ll give it to Jaeyoung and Changyoon, they can use it before going to the exhibition if they want,” Minkyun explained, “so wait here, I’m going to deliver this before I forget,” he added and went into the hallway to head to the other’s hotel room.

Changyoon and Jaeyoung were thankful for the gift they got but Minkyun quickly left them again to meet back with Yuto in his own room.  
Minkyun spent the little time they had until they would meet up to just chat with Yuto.  
Later on, they finally went to the strip again, this time promising to not go past ‘being tipsy.’ They also each established a certain budget and then promised each other to keep them to it.

The neon lights instantly attacked them as soon as they stepped outside the hotel.

Every building played its own music and it was a bit overwhelming trying to process it all while sober. They went to the nearest casino and just continued from there, not really with a big plan, just kind of taking in the culture and its people as they went into any building that seemed interesting. 

While it was hard keeping Seungjun’s spending at bay, they all managed to keep their promises.  
Yesterday, this street was used to drown out feelings. A weird form or revenge while drinking out of spite. But today, they just laughed, explored the city and made proper memories...which they would keep this time.

When Minkyun's back met the mattress again, he felt content. The moon shining through the curtains told them they had probably played for too long, given that he and Yuto had to leave early the next morning.  
But he didn't regret anything nor felt bad towards his friends. They seemed to have had a fun time and were looking forward to their activities they planned tomorrow. The only thing that slightly bugged him, was a tiny nervous feeling, which was sparked by the preposition of the coming week. He looked forward to the vacation with Yuto, but it would be the first time they would be together, alone. 

He was part of their friend-group, so it was natural to invite him to the wedding, but Minkyun had never planned anything with Yuto, solo. If anything, Seungjun was always there with him, and was often the one bringing Yuto along. 

In contrast to Minkyun himself, Yuto wasn’t incredibly talkative, but then again, Minkyun always felt calm whenever the other was around him. So this could either go really well or really awkwardly, yet he was excited to be with Yuto. Minkyun was curious yet anxious about the outcome of this trip, but that would be a problem for the next day.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the deal made and supplies bought, their vacation finally set off.

Obnoxious alarm sounds welcomed the next morning, a lot sooner than Minkyun would’ve liked.   
After washing up and putting on a summery outfit, he checked his phone to see that he finally got a text telling him the car he rented had been delivered. Finding a proper outfit, he quickly made his way downstairs to accept the keys and park it somewhere in the hotel parking lot for now. 

When he got back to their floor, he went to Yuto’s room.

“Hey,” he said after a small knock on the door.

“Ye—”—Yuto cleared his throat—“Yeah?”

“Just wanted to check if you were up,” Minkyun informed through the wood, “we should go soon if we don’t want to have to rush.”

“Yes, of course,” the other hummed back.

“I’ll tell everyone to meet in the lobby, so just go there when you’re done packing,” Minkyun ordered and went to tell the rest the same. 

After nearly an hour and a good hotel breakfast, clear skies greeted the group outside the hotel in the parking lot. Yuto had put one of his new outfits, stylish jean shorts and a breezy shirt, right for the hot weather predictions of today.

“You guys know when your flight home is, right?” Minkyun asked as he opened the boot of the car.

“Yeah, yeah,” Seungjun hummed, “you just focus on the trip. Take good care of Yuto.”

“I can take care of myself,” Yuto argued while placing his suitcase inside the car.

Seungjun stepped up behind Yuto and trapped him in his arms. “But you’re leaving me for some random man,” he said in an overly dramatic tone.

“I’m going on a _small_ trip with one of _your_ best friends,” Yuto groaned as the other squeezed and shook him, nearly making the cap he was wearing fly off.

Seungjun chuckled and let go. “I’m just happy for you,” he sang, which rewarded him with an eye roll from Yuto while he closed the boot again.

“Well,” Minkyun said after, “please make sure you get to the airport in time and let me know when you all arrive home safely, alright?”

“Of course,” Changyoon assured, “don’t be so worried. It’s weird to see you act responsible.”

“This was all my doing,” Minkyun reminded him, “so I do want to make sure it ends well…”

“Alright already, go on your trip. Get out,” Changyoon ordered with a grin.

“Okay, okay.”

Minkyun walked to the driver’s seat and opened the door. “Get home safe, and have fun today,” he said before stepping into the car.

Yuto joined him soon after accompanied by a few ‘you too’s from the group.

“Is everything alright? Do you have everything with you?” Minkyun asked his passenger.

“Yepp, I checked twice.”

“Good.” Minkyun jotted the address of their destination into his phone, making sure Yuto couldn’t see what it was, and placed his phone in a mount on the dashboard. ”Let’s go then.”

He ducked down to wave at the others one more time before putting his sunglasses on and starting the engine to pull out of the parking lot. Minkyun was slightly worried if that unorganized bunch could handle everything well, but he just put his trust in them and left the hotel behind him.

It were definitely new roads to drive on, they were wide and busy, making the car silent while Minkyun focused on getting used to the car and making his way to more relaxing roads.

“Is it far?” Yuto started when they were on proper asphalt.

“It says less than an hour.”

“That’s not too bad,” Yuto hummed and looked out the window.

The day was still young, so Minkyun didn’t mind the absence of big conversations while the car rumbled over the poorly kept up roads lining the city. 

Earlier, before setting his suitcase in the boot, Yuto had taken his camera out and was now just randomly taking pictures of some of the scenery they came past. But when the buildings stopped, there wasn't that much change in the view, it stayed a lot of sand. When they left the city somewhat, the mountains in the distance made for a nice shot.

It somehow felt a little odd. Only two days before, he was supposed to get married, now he was just enjoying a road trip with a random friend. His mind hadn’t fully realized the change yet but he was also just trying to forget it all.

When the silence turned from comfortable to slightly awkward, Minkyun spoke up.   
“This thing should have bluetooth,” he said, referring to the car, “hook up your phone.”

Yuto looked at his driver. “Are you sure?”

“Why not?”

“Maybe you won’t like my music.”

“I can listen to anything.”

While still a bit hesitant, Yuto managed to find the bluetooth setting after fiddling with some buttons. Shortly after, the car became filled with a song talking about a cold and empty ‘sin city,’ clear of judgement.

_A lot sure happened in that ‘sin city’ which people would judge me for..._   
Minkyun joked to himself, his lips curling up at the memories, or maybe lack thereof, of the whole experience. 

He still slightly couldn’t believe what had gone on. Maybe it was good that he had this vacation, just to stall for a bit longer on having to tell anyone else the ‘bad’ news.

Yuto softly tapped the rhythm of the song, finding in between beats and noises Minkyun himself was surprised by. His focus on the rather boring road ahead quickly faded, so to at least stay in the moment, he listened to Yuto’s occasional humming and small hand movements.

Whenever there was a song Minkyun recognized, he would join in on the hums, making the car a shy mobile karaoke.

When they fully left the busyness of Las Vegas, the views stretched out again over flat lands with minimal shrubbery, and mountains lining the horizon. The roads finally allowed for some relaxation, so Minkyun set the volume of the music higher and just enjoyed the energy.

Eventually they drove through some of the hills and marveled at the painting they got when they descended again. The combination of the orange hills against the clear blue backdrop got them both excited.

“Which lake is that?” Yuto asked, staring at the hints they got of a body of water.

“No clue,” Minkyun admitted, “look it up, I’d say.”

“Oh,” his passenger said after a few taps on his phone, “Apparently it’s just part of the Colorado River?”

“Makes sense, we should be close to that by now.”

“Are we going there?” Yuto spoke up curiously.

Minkyun just grinned. “Maybe.”

After driving a road snaking along a ridge wall, they soon saw a large parking garage next to a massive stone wall which held back a body of water. Yuto let out a noise of amazement and Minkyun had trouble keeping his attention on the car.  
They rounded another turn and were met with a large bridge above them, looking menacing and sturdy. Following the road further, they pulled into a parking lot atop a café and found a spot for the car. 

“Wear sunscreen,” Minkyun advised and got a small bottle out of his suitcase, “We’ll be outside for a while.”

Following some quick preparations, they stored everything away again and made their way down to the dam. It was a small walk before they were met with a great, threatening view downwards. The dam was imposing and Yuto quickly got his camera out to take pictures of the giant stone wall. They walked through a small building and were then standing only inches away from the incredible drop. They awed at the views, but Minkyun had something planned and went to look for where they needed to go.

Yuto stayed at the viewpoint, seeming to unstiffen a little. He looked out onto the tourist spot, even under the forced winds and relatively loudness around them, it seemed to calm Yutos mind.

Even after finding out where they needed to go, Minkyun let the other bask in the peace for a bit before he rested a hand on Yuto’s shoulder. “Hey, let’s go to the rafts.”

Yuto turned to face the other. “Rafts?”

“Yes! I booked a spot on a raft to go over the river.”

“Really?! You can go there?” Yuto wondered while looking down onto the aggressive seeming waters.

“Yeah, there should be a place to go down. I think I found it.”

Taking the confused other with him, Minkyun walked over to the gathering place for the rafts. Soon after they were taken to a dock and hoisted into safety vests. 

The raft accommodated a good 10 people, and in the middle stood a friendly American lady holding a monologue about safety and some history, but soon, she became background noise to the beautiful scenery.   
The only time Minkyun would pick something up was when she would stop the raft to tell some interesting facts about the river and rock walls. He already didn’t understand much of the language, but the raft’s engine, being fairly loud, made it so he picked up even less. Although, he didn’t mind, and the views made up for it all.

While them having gotten only minimal hours of sleep was one of the reasons they kept quiet, all the noises around them didn't invite conversation. Yuto also seemed to be interested in the things the woman had to say, Minkyun found more joy in the fact he had just learned Yuto was better at languages than he thought. Not wanting to either stare or pay a weird amount of attention to his companion, Minkyun focused on the views around them.

They felt small between the giant orange ridges. Strong winds, rushing through the canyon, formed low waves which made the raft occasionally bounce up and water quickly wetted their clothes. 

Minkyun looked to Yuto, who, even though he hid behind Minkyun a lot, was getting a fair amount of water over him as well.

“Should you really be holding your camera?” Minkyun remarked when drizzle fell on the device.

“It’s fairly waterproof,” Yuto assured.

“Fairly?”

“I can’t go dunk it in the river, but it can handle this much.”

Minkyun smiled at the explanation. “Alright then.”

During the trip, they passed other rafters or people just relaxing at some small beaches, sunbathing or enjoying some snacks. Even with the sunscreen, Minkyun felt his skin burning under the strong rays coming from the sky, yet the winds made the temperature just bearable. The gusts helped clear his mind as well, somewhat. It sometimes jumped back to his wedding day, playing clips of that evening of the morning after, forcing his cheeks to heat up further under the scorching sun.

With the multiple snaps next to him every other second, Minkyun got curious about the pictures Yuto was taking, he seemed so concentrated on it and it looked a little endearing. Another new thing he was happy to have found.  
It was always slightly hard for Minkyun to read the other. His stoic yet mysterious expression only broke on rare occasions, he noticed. Even with the heavy concentration on his face, no facial features moved, no brows were furrowed nor lip was bitten. Minkyun chuckled at his own observations.

A brief midway stop was made and they pulled up to a small beach.   
The stop was used by most families to eat some brought snacks, while the lady taught them about some carvings along one of the rocks. Minkyun and Yuto hadn’t brought anything to eat, so they just used this time to look around. 

Rather than listen to a history lesson, Minkyun spotted something wildly more interesting. 

An iguana. 

It sat in the sun, warming its body, looking over the waters calmly, relaxing between the dehydrated plants around it.

“Yuto, Yuto,” Minkyun beckoned.

Yuto hesitated not listening to what the lady was talking about, but decided to pay his attention to the calling. “What?”

“Look,” Minkyun said, pointing to the lizard.

Yuto crouched next to Minkyun. “Oh, pretty.”

The lizard seemed to notice the duo staring at it and slightly angled its head before making its way to a more peaceful part of this beach.

Yuto looked over his shoulder and saw that the rest were actually being proper passengers; listening to the history lesson. Not wanting to stand out, he grabbed Minkyun’s arm and took him back to the group.   
Fortunately for their short attention span, they got back into the raft relatively soon after. 

The rest of the ride went the same, more impressive rocks, more new flora and wildlife to admire, accompanied by more details and facts about said things.

The whole trip lasted just short of 4 hours, but it felt a lot less than that. The only thing that told the length of the journey was how much their energy had depleted and how much the temperature had increased further. The rafting made them quite wet, but the incrementing heat of the sun dried them up almost instantly when they stopped at the finish-line. Minkyun checked his watch, which luckily was waterproof, and became a little anxious.

“What’s up?” Yuto remarked, noticing the other’s ‘thinking face’.

“It seems like the trip went a little longer than I anticipated,” Minkyun mumbled, “we have about 5 hours until check-in at the next hotel ends, and the drive to it is around 4 hours.”

“Oh… well, that should be doable?”

“Yeah, but don’t forget, we also have to get back to our car…”

Right when Minkyun said that, they were called over to get out of their safety vests and enter a bus. Minkyun seemed slightly nervous the whole way back up to the dam, so Yuto went to distract him with the pictures he had taken.

Minkyun was surprised by how professional the photos looked. “Since when is photography a hobby of yours?” he asked curiously, not having noticed the other hold a camera that diligently before.

“I always enjoyed it. I’m just not _that_ obsessed to take pictures everywhere and of everything,” Yuto explained, sounding slightly contradicting as he scrolled through the, frankly, impressive collection of images. “This place is just really pretty,” he justified the amount with.

Minkyun let out an entertained breath. “Well, I’m glad you are having fun.”

Yuto grew a faint smile as he stared at the little camera display, deleting some of the more blurry ones to free up space for the coming days.

“Alright, let’s make our way to the hotel quickly,” Minkyun hurried when they _finally_ found themselves back in the car after a short bathroom break. “Let’s get something to eat once we are there.”

“Yeah, sure. Are you okay to drive though?” Yuto asked.

“Yeah. Why?”

“Because I’m tired, so I thought you might be too.”

“We did wake up really early and then sat in the sun for 3 hours so yes, I do feel a little drowsy,” Minkyun laughed softly, “but I can still drive, don’t worry. Let’s just blast some music, it isn’t too long.”

They were quickly met with more sandy hills covered by sparse plots of grass. Following Minkyun’s suggestion, the music played loudly, but this time they were both too hazy to sing along. Minkyun tapped the steering wheel, although it wasn’t on any rhythm.

Of course, Yuto noticed. "Minkyun, it will be fine," he said gently while turning the volume of the beats down a little.

"I don't want to be late,” the other sighed. “It'll be troublesome if we can't check in."

"Relax, we have like a 10 minute leeway."

"We also have to park the car and go to the reception," Minkyun argued.

"I know, but I'm sure we'll get to the hotel in time."

"Also… speaking of the hotel," Minkyun hesitated, "since this was meant for me and my ex, all the rooms have two person beds."

"...ah, that's alright,” Yuto answered shyly, “I'm not picky. I am kind of intruding on this trip, after all."

"You're not intruding," Minkyun scolded.

"I'm sure you would much rather do this with your girlfriend."

"First of all, I don't have a girlfriend,” Minkyun said with a light tone, “and second, like I said before, I am happy to never see her again."

"Alright fair. Maybe not _her_ , but I'm sure _a_ woman would be more fun,” Yuto rephrased himself. He hung against the door, staring at the seemingly endless amount of sand. “Find someone fun and go on some romantic america trip."

"Okay, sidenote: I don't care what gender my partner is,” Minkyun informed at the continuous use of ‘woman’ on Yuto’s side, “but that's besides the point anyway. I'm enjoying myself with you here just as much as I would with any other."

"I doubt I’m as fun..."

“As fun as who?” Minkyun scoffed, “Yuto, the person I planned this trip for, I have had countless fights with, and would probably argue against me the whole time.” Now that the love had faded and Minkyun had gotten his slap in the face, the view he had of his ex had turned a little sour. 

Seeing Yuto not grow any more secure, Minkyun continued, “You're fun to talk to, it's nice getting to know you, and I like your taste in music. Stop being sorry for joining me. I'm thankful that you did."

Yuto hummed something, still not agreeing to it.

“Oh, stop it,” Minkyun chipped while he pinched the other’s thigh.

A small cry left Yuto before he rubbed over the sore spot. “Why did you do that?!”

“Because you’re sulking for no reason.” Minkyun flashed a smile to his passenger. “I am enjoying myself, I mean it. And I hope you are too.”

Yuto whipped his head back to the outside view. “I am…” he mumbled before a notification sound rang.   
He got out his phone and after a few taps, he said, "Seungjun asks how it's going."

"And?"

"Just thought I'd say."

"What are you going to answer?" Minkyun hummed.

Yuto shifted his position and stretched out his arm, leaning over awkwardly to take a picture of the both of them. 

"I'm just gonna say that I'm being held hostage and don't know where I'm going," Yuto chuckled.

"Technically not a lie, although you are free to exit the car if you desire. If you roll, you might survive."

"Yeah, I'll think I'll pass on that offer," Yuto declined, "so I'm not a hostage, but you won't tell me where I'm going?"

"Correct."

Yuto laughed softly and started texting with Seungjun. Minkyun let him be and focused on the road.

More minutes passed, more sand and mountains filled the view. While it all looked pretty, it also got pretty boring, and they still had a good 2 hours to go. 

Minkyun noticed his mind getting tired. “Let’s play a game,” he suggested.

“As in?”

“I don’t know, something fun to do.”

Yuto hummed in thought before shrugging. “How about ‘yellow car’?”

“There aren’t many cars...” Minkyun remarked. 

With nearly no bends or crossings any time soon, they didn’t meet that many oncoming cars.

Yuto noticed it as well. “No, true.”

“Let’s do something more involved… How about ‘would you rather’?”

“Sure…”

Minkyun grinned. “You start.”

“...Okay.”

Yuto took a few seconds to think of a scenario.

“Would you rather...not be able to read or not be able to speak?”

“I already barely read,” Minkyun admitted, “and although people say I speak too much, I would like to keep that ability.”

“Yeah, fair,” Yuto agreed.

Minkyun found a question rather quickly. “Would you rather know the history of any object you touch or have the ability to speak with animals?”

While for Minkyun, this seemed like an obvious choice, Yuto seemed torn. “On the one hand, I like history and knowing the story an object has would fascinate me. But then again, speaking with animals would be so cool…”

Minkyun nodded. “I would definitely go with animals.”

“Yeah I figured,” Yuto grinned, “you didn’t seem too interested in what the lady on the raft had to say.”

“I caught _some_ of the stuff she said,” the other defended himself, making Yuto laugh softly.

“Give me your answer,” Minkyun pushed.

“I’ll go with… the history of objects,” Yuto concluded.

Minkyun seemed surprised. “Really?!”

“Yes, it will be interesting. You’ll know so much.”

“But that all already happened,” Minkyun argued, “you’ll just know a bunch, nothing else really.”

“You should learn from the past. A lot in history repeats itself, and if you know how it played out then, you can respond accordingly in the future.”

“Okay, fair, but a lot is already in the history books.”

“There is so much untracked stuff.”

“I just like animals,” Minkyun gave in.

“Yeah, same… but if I had to choose, you know,” Yuto stayed with his decision, “and also… you get to learn a bunch about dinosaurs.”

Minkyun chuckled. “Okay, that is a compelling argument.” 

When Minkyun finally seemed to understand the other’s reasoning, it was Yuto’s turn again.

The longer they played this, the weirder the scenarios got. Minkyun was intrigued by the unique questions the other managed to come up with eventually. Yuto always appeared quite held-back, so hearing him pull out all sorts of weird weighted options, took the other by surprise, but he enjoyed it. The answers sometimes surprised him too, Yuto was a lot more playful than he initially thought.

While playing their game, the landscape turned from sandy planes, to sandy planes with a few more bushes. Untamed dry grass and large shrubbery covered the land, and soon after, the shrubbery turned into trees.

With the new views, Yuto got his camera out again but still participated in the game. While trying to aim another shot, a sign spoiled their destination.

Yuto eyed his driver. “Are we going to the Grand Canyon?”

“Maybe,” Minkyun said with a terrible smirk.

“So we are,” the other concluded, mimicking the awful grin.

“Maybe we will drive right past it.”

“We only have like half an hour left to drive I feel, so where else will we get?”

“Okay, fine. Yes, we are going to the Grand Canyon,” Minkyun revealed, “tomorrow, though. I’m currently too tired.”

“Yeah, that would be better. We could take a nap when we get to the hotel room,” Yuto suggested. 

“We also need to get dinner.”

“Before or after a nap?”

“Maybe after… I’ll probably fall asleep in my soup if we go now.”

That information got Yuto a little worried to have Minkyun as his driver. “Shall I drive the final part?”

“It’s fine, it shouldn’t be too long now anyway.”

“Still, just let me do the final part, please,” Yuto pushed, “you have been driving for like 3 hours already,” he added to try and convince Minkyun.

“If we come by a place to stop,” Minkyun set his rules.

With that order, Yuto started to pay attention to the signs a little more, hoping to find a fitting place. It didn’t take that long for a potential resting place to come up.

“Take a right here, then we can stop,” Yuto gestured to a lane leading into a town.

Minkyun hesitated and kept to his own path. “I don’t really want to go _into_ a town. That might give us too long of a detour. Let’s wait until we find one of those places for truck drivers.”

After they skipped the town, the scenery turned denser. The trees grew higher and coloured a more healthy green. Although, it didn’t last long when they finally got off the highway and took a left underneath a small bridge. The flora turned sparse again quickly, leaving them to watch the tree covered hills in the distance. 

A picturesque farm with red buildings greeted them back to the land of the living. However, it seemed like private property, so Yuto didn’t suggest stopping. 

More trees guided them along the road.

“There! A gas station. Stop and let me drive,” Yuto ordered.

“There’s less than half an hour left,” Minkyun contended, “I’ll just finish this.”

“Let me drive,” Yuto persisted.

Minkyun waited a few seconds to answer, watching the exit lane fly by. “It’s already passed now.”

“Minkyun!” the other scolded, “It’s dangerous to drive this long.”

“We’re nearly there.”

Yuto sat back in his seat. “You’re really impossible,” he breathed, making the other grin. 

“I hear that often.”

More similar scenery and badly paved roads later, a green roofed building came into view, making Minkyun slow down. He pulled up into the parking lot of the hotel and quickly hopped out of the car. Yuto followed him into the lobby and was overwhelmed by the interior. It seemed very welcoming and cosy, yet impressive and scary. Minkyun took a small glance at the big stone fireplace in the middle but soon went to scan the wooden interior for anything resembling a reception. A friendly lady smiled at them from behind a desk, so Minkyun walked over and quickly got handed their roomkey after filling in some forms. 

The flooring of their hotel room had odd black lines on the carpet and was decorated in multiple earthtones. A large tv and a wide, two person bed lined the walls opposite each other. While the bed was incredibly inviting to Minkyun, who crashed on it instantly, Yuto went to check what the room had to offer.

“Oh, it has a bath!” he called when he stepped into the tiled room.

“That’s nice. You can go in if you want,” Minkyun said with exhausted breaths, laying in a starfish position on the dense mattress.

“I’m too tired. I don’t want to risk drowning…” Yuto concluded before making his way out of the bathroom again.

He went over to the window to check the view, which was mostly just more of the sand and trees combination. 

Minkyun looked at the figure staring out of the window as he slowly dozed off. Yuto really had a calming air around him. Even Though Minkyun wasn’t familiar with the other, he felt no shame in just being himself and it was weirdly grounding, stressless.

Yuto turned around. “Hey, at least take your shoes off if you’re going to sleep,” he ordered when he saw the other close his eyes.

“Oh, yeah.” With a groan, Minkyun got up to untie the comfortable gym shoes he had packed for this walk-heavy trip.

“Are you going to nap?” Yuto assumed.

“Probably. Although we should find food soon.” After kicking his shoes off, Minkyun fell back on top of the sheets.

“At least go lay properly,” the other scolded instantly.

Minkyun stretched his body as it had to stay awake. “I just want to sleep,” he whined jokingly.

“Then do it well,” Yuto grinned back.

Following the little exchange, Minkyun settled under the sheets.   
Laying in bed with jean shorts was more than uncomfortable, but he was too tired to bother changing. 

Yuto seemed to think the same. Another pair of shoes was kicked off before the bed swayed under new weight crawling in.  
With the other laying motionless, the tiredness really set in. Minkyun’s eyelids were too heavy to keep open, so he shut them and almost immediately fell asleep.

——————————————————

A heavy growl in his stomach woke Minkyun up. He felt a bit nauseous with how little food was in his system. With only the breakfast they had in the morning, he had gone past the point of hunger, and just felt horrendous.   
Sluggish moves got him sat up and he swung his legs off the bed. He grabbed his phone from the nightstand he had put it on. 

The phone showed it was 3 a.m., informing that they should’ve set an alarm. 

He looked behind him and Yuto was still fast asleep. He looked so comfortable as he snuggled up against his pillow. Minkyun almost felt like it was a shame that he had to wake the other up, but given that he himself was so hungry, he figured Yuto would be too, and besides that, Minkyun didn’t want to go out and find food alone.

He rested a hand on Yuto’s shoulder.

“Hey,” he breathed softly, “wake up.”

Minkyun felt his heart nearly melt when Yuto just mumbled something inaudible before pulling the sheets up further. The whole ‘stoic and cold’ image Minkyun had of Yuto, was crumbling further and further the more he properly got to know him. The more that image crumbled, the more his blood rushed. He had always felt a weird urge to learn about the other, he couldn’t explain his reasoning, Yuto just always piqued his interest, and he started to figure out why.

He softly shook Yuto again. “Wake up,” Minkyun repeated.

“Hmm?” Yuto hummed when he blinked his eyes open.

He took a second to wake up properly, rubbing his eyes and needing to realise where he was. 

“What time is it?” he asked when he had adjusted.

“About 3 a.m.”

“What?"

"I forgot to set an alarm," Minkyun admitted softly.

"Ah. Well, that explains the headache, I'm hungry.”

Minkyun let out a small laugh and got off the bed. “Shall we see if any places are still open?”

Yuto threw the sheets off himself. “Yeah, we should.”

“McDonald’s probably still is.”

The prospect of such food made Yuto feel worse somehow. “I think I’ll definitely throw up if I have that.”

Minkyun put on his shoes and got his wallet and car keys. “On the way here, I also noticed we need to fill the car. So let’s just go to that town we passed earlier, and see what’s open?”

“Yeah, sure,” Yuto agreed. 

He got out of bed and into his shoes.

The receptionist told them that it was fine for them to walk in and out at ass o'clock and wished them goodluck.

“Let me drive,” Yuto spoke up before Minkyun could enter the driver’s seat, “since you didn’t let me, on the way here.”

“Alright.” Minkyun walked to the other side of the car and handed over the keys when he crossed Yuto.

Minkyun tried not to grin at the amount of adjusting Yuto needed to do to be able to reach the pedals and steering wheel comfortably. 

They both didn’t know what the town was called, but Minkyun knew it was a straight road to their destination so they set off without navigation. With both still being a little drowsy, the music and conversations stayed off while Yuto mindlessly drove them along the darkened trees.

When they finally arrived, Yuto took the lane that led them into town. Minkyun grabbed his phone and let it tell him where the nearest petrol station was. After giving Yuto directions, they saw their destination come into view.

The pretty stars accompanied the coldness of the night. Now that their bodies were fully awake, it made them as hungry as wolves; Minkyun’s stomach howled to the full moon above the petrol station. The obvious sound piercing the silent made Yuto chuckle while he pulled up next to a pump.

“I’ll fill it,” Yuto offered and stepped out after receiving Minkyun’s card.

Minkyun, meanwhile, tried to find an open restaurant near and scrolled on his phone.   
A sudden screech got his attention.

He rushed out to see what had happened and found Yuto hiding behind the car, looking over the boot with fearful eyes.

“What’s wrong?! What happened?!” Minkyun exclaimed.

Yuto silently pointed over the car, to the pump. Minkyun tried his hardest to see what the problem was, but couldn’t spot it.

“What?” he asked again, rather confused now.

“Bug…” Yuto muttered.

Minkyun’s vision fell to the ground and he saw a fairly large cockroach sitting at the bottom of the pump.

“Yuto, it’s just minding its own business. Relax, it won’t hurt you,” he said with a snicker.

Yuto didn’t look away from the bug as he argued, “cockroaches are dangerous.”

“Not when they are just out here, chilling,” Minkyun gave back and went to walk to the pump.

“Minkyun, don’t. What if it runs over here?”

“It won’t… and if it will, it’s just saying hello.”

“I don’t want it to say ‘hello’ to me. Don’t scare it,” Yuto warned, making Minkyun roll his eyes. 

“Well, maybe _it_ does want to meet _you_.”

“I want _it_ to leave.”

“That’s a bit mean to say to someone you don't know,” Minkyun teased.

“Oh my god, Kyun, ‘someone’…”

Minkyun turned to the roach. “I’m sorry for my rude friend,” he said softly before flashing a smile at the frightened one behind the car. “Yuto, meet Gregor. Gregor, meet Yuto. Now, be friends.”

“Minkyun please, Gregor?!” Yuto straightened his back to show Minkyun an annoyed expression.

“Yes, Gregor. He’s friendly. He works in the office down the street,” Minkyun uselessly explained to annoy his companion further.

“Don’t go make a backstory for a bug...” Yuto sighed, but wasn’t surprised.

With a small giggle, Minkyun walked over to the pump, ignoring the other’s hisses.   
When he got close enough, the bug turned and rushed off at an amazing speed, nearly the same speed at which Yuto raced back into the car. Loud laughter filled the night while Minkyun got the car filled. 

After paying for the petrol, he sat in the driver seat—since in his escape, Yuto had rushed into the passenger seat.

“Gregor wasn’t even going your way,” Minkyun hummed, having to set the driver’s seat back again.

“Well, he could’ve. Maybe he was getting his whole cockroach office to come after me.”

“He would never,” Minkyun assured sarcastically while starting the car again. “Anyway,” he continued, “I found something that isn’t McDonald’s and is open, it didn’t look too terrible.”

“Oh, what does it serve?”

“Pancakes.”

Minkyun only had to drive to the end of the street to get to the restaurant, it was a simple place, nothing in the decor really stood out, everything was basic wood and plastic leather with a typical American touch. It only felt slightly eerie, since it was empty, safe for the staff that was on the clock. 

"Hello," a polite smile called to them, "how can I help?"

"We came to eat, if that's alright," Minkyun answered with a hint of discomfort. 

Even though this restaurant was open 24/7, it still felt really awkward being here at this hour.

"Of course," the male worker said with an unusual amount of energy for the time of night, "two people?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, follow me."

They got taken to a small table for two and were each handed a menu. Multiple obnoxious fonts screamed at them from the laminated paper they held.

"I just kind of want something simple," Yuto mumbled, seeing the amount of larger breakfast meals.

"Let's just stick to pancakes then, seems like the best option," Minkyun guessed, "if I'll have the whole bacon and sausages thing, I think my stomach will hate me…"

After coming to that conclusion, they both ordered the most plain pancakes this ‘international house of them,’ had to offer.

"So, tomorrow, technically today, we go to the Grand Canyon?" Yuto started after a bit, to fill the silence.

"Yes."

"We'll have only a few more days after that. What else will we do?"

"I'm still not going to tell you," Minkyun grinned. 

"How long is the drive from the Grand Canyon to the next ‘mystery place’?" Yuto tried, to hopefully get more information.

"The next and final thing, we are going to fly to."

“Fly?!”

“Yeah,” Minkyun said excitedly before tilting his head, “you’re alright with that, right?”

“I don’t mind flying that much... but please, how much money did you spend?!”

“Stop worrying about that,” Minkyun waved the question away right as their food arrived.

They thanked the waiter and started their ‘dinner’. It wasn't anything mind blowing but they were happy to finally eat again.

"We should get snacks after we wake up again," Minkyun noted, "just so we have something while going around this time."

"Yeah, it would've been good if we at least had something to eat in the car this afternoon," Yuto agreed, "oh well, live and learn."

Minkyun wasn't used to that reaction. "You're surprisingly relaxed."

"Want me to be angry?” the other scoffed jokingly, “I'm just as guilty for having us get up at an ungodly hour. Besides, what good does getting mad do?"

"I don't know. I'm just—... I just expected you to be angry or something," Minkyun shrugged.

"...Would your ex have gotten angry?" Yuto guessed with caution.

"Most definitely," the other breathed instantly.

"Really?!"

"Well, this would probably never even have happened with her," Minkyun chuckled, "but if it somehow did, she would've been pissed."

"With the few times I met her, she did strike me as organized." After a short pause, Yuto turned his tone careful. "Are you gonna try and contact her again? Resolve some stuff."

"Probably not," Minkyun answered, "I'm done with her, to be frank."

"Are you sure?"

"Certainly."

Yuto shook his head. "I still don't get that."

"Me neither," the other admitted, "I expected to be more heartbroken, but I felt relieved in a sense. Maybe I really did drink all my sorrows away that night," he grinned before turning a bit more serious, untensing his shoulders and lowering his voice. "I feel I stopped being in love with her a long time ago."

"Why did you want to marry her then?" Yuto asked as well, although a lot more gentle than Changyoon did before, but Minkyun still had no concise answer to that question. 

"I don't know, alright?” His tone was a little more annoyed than he would’ve liked. He felt it was more directed towards his own stupidity than to the other’s question.  
“We were together for decently long," he recounted, "we did break up once, but got back together for some reason. Marriage just seemed natural after a while. You just get stuck in a routine, a comfort zone. That goes for her too, I doubt she was in love with me still, and I’m glad she realized it in time."

“You really don’t like her anymore?” 

Minkyun thought about it, but she was definitely not the one on his mind recently. “No. Anyone who you have been with for a long time means something to you, and we started out alright, but it’s for the better that she left, given that I wasn’t realizing that I had fallen out of love.” Minkyun took another bite, keeping his attitude casual to not make the mood heavy. “I feel I’ve already moved on from her even,” he said honestly.

Yuto’s expression had a hint of disbelief. Minkyun knew his own words were true but couldn’t blame the other for doubting him. 

_Everything is supposed to go perfect when you’re in a relationship after all._

That’s the general consensus. People feel sorry for you when you leave a partner, say it’s sad to see people break up. Yet, a lot of the time, it’s for the better, it’ll do them good in the end. Of course being broken up with isn’t always fun, and sometimes it can hurt, but if it wasn’t meant to be and you didn’t work out, it’s better to accept the pain to grow from it afterwards. Minkyun felt himself simple for not ever taking the time to assess his own relationship, not thinking things over one more time. He had noticed it at times, he had caught himself tossing with the idea that maybe this wasn’t who he wanted to grow old with. But minds can be afraid of big change and would rather stay in the safe zone. Breaking up would bring hassle, emotions and unpredictability with it, and the unstableness of it can frighten, so he wasn’t being too hard on himself for not realizing it, but he couldn’t help wonder if he had missed opportunities. 

"I somehow saw you as more of the romantic type…" Yuto muttered, letting his words fade out as he slightly regretted saying them.

"Am I ruining a nice image you had of me?" Minkyun grinned teasingly, but he felt nervous.

"That's not what I meant…"

"Well, I do like to think of myself as a romantic. I planned this whole trip as a surprise after all."

"You did?!"

"Yeah, she didn't know about this." 

"She missed a golden opportunity." Yuto looked down. "Honestly, why did she leave…?" he uttered, more to his pancakes than to his dinner partner.

"Look on the bright side, now you get to travel a part of America."

Yuto looked up and arched an eyebrow. "I'd much rather _you_ hadn't gotten dicked over, than me going on this trip."

To Minkyun, the display of annoyance was sweet. "Why do you seem more frustrated than I do?"

The question took the other aback. "Ah… uhm…" Yuto played his cutlery through some of the syrup on his plate. "It's just… You didn't deserve that."

Those words hit Minkyun for some reason, they were simple but said so genuinely. He wasn't sure how to respond, so he just said a short, "thank you."

Yuto hummed a confused noise.

"Thank you for caring, I guess," Minkyun clarified, mindlessly taking another bite of his dinner.

Yuto's eyes turned a little soft. "Every one of us cares."

"I know," Minkyun mumbled, "just hearing you actually say it makes me grateful."

Yuto kept a gentle smile while he finished the last bits on his plate.

Minkyun grabbed his wallet but was interrupted.

"Let me pay," Yuto said quickly.

"No, it's fine."

"I've already come to terms with the fact that you're paying most of this vacation," Yuto sighed, "let me at least contribute something. Even if it's just this dinner."

With a careful grin, Minkyun gave in and let himself be treated while he simply stared at Yuto, finding his honesty cute. It might be that it was just incredibly late and that he was still really tired, but Yuto's honest words and attitude throughout the night, touched a soft spot. Minkyun didn’t fully finish his plate, as he got filled by a nervousness that was a little overwhelming.

Their dinner ended but they kept their drowsiness. Not caring about who drove enough, Yuto let Minkyun take them back to the hotel where they quickly entered back into their room.

When Minkyun saw the soft bed again, he yawned. "I'll just shower tomorrow morning," he admitted, "I want to get back to sleep."

"Yeah, same here," the other agreed and grabbed his pajamas before disappearing into the bathroom to change while Minkyun quickly got into his own more comfortable clothing.

"Should we set an alarm this time?" Yuto questioned with a small laugh when he walked back into the room.

“Maybe… just set it at like 11 a.m.,” Minkyun suggested.

Yuto quickly set it up and went to charge his phone and camera.

“I’m excited for the pictures you’re going to take tomorrow,” Minkyun hummed when he got under the sheets.

Yuto turned shy. “Why?”

“I liked the ones you took during the rafting, so I’m curious about the ones you’ll take tomorrow.”

“Pressure...”

“Not at all.”

Yuto smiled. “Maybe I should take some of _you_ at the Canyon, though. The ones from Hoover Dam are all of the scenery.”

“The scenery is the prettiest after all, shouldn’t be ruined with my dumb face.”

"It's nice to be able to show people that you have been places," Yuto argued. “Besides, you're handsome,” he added in a near whisper.

"I’m not,” Minkyun rebutted with a soft voice, “but it’s indeed nice to be able to show people the places you’ve been. I'll take some of you then, although they will be much shitter."

Yuto laughed. "I'm also not a professional, my pictures aren't _that_ good."

"I still like them," Minkyun grinned back, "show me some others sometime."

"Uhm… s—sure," the other stuttered at the request before sliding into bed. 

With tired moves, Minkyun turned off the night light.

"Goodnight," he muttered.

"Yeah…" Yuto hummed back, but there was a faint nervousness in his muttering, "Sleep well."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The vacation was fully running and it was more relaxing than Minkyun had expected, but a new thing he noticed made him nervous quickly.

"This really is massive!" Minkyun nearly yelled when the Canyon was in view. 

After taking their time showering and getting ready, they had a late breakfast somewhere close and bought snacks they stored in the backpack Minkyun had brought.  
Following another short drive, they finally parked at the Grand Canyon. 

"What did you expect?" Yuto chuckled at the amazement.

"I don't know. I just… I didn't think it was _this_ big."

"Well, it's called the _Grand_ Canyon after all."

"Yes, yes," Minkyun hummed. 

They strolled over the sand paths, taking in the massive picture. There were little clouds above them and the blue sky prettily contrasted orange rocks once again. 

While they had mostly gotten tired of the sandy views, there were the odd chances where it took their breath away, and this scene did just that. There was something eye-opening about seeing so far away, being threatened by how small you actually are. The earth bragging about its massive existence got the duo quiet while they set a soft pace.

With it being off season and the Canyon being huge, it wasn't too busy and the walk was relaxing. There was a 'main road' with small paths branching off every so often, signs sometimes told of hikers routes but Yuto and Minkyun chose to just walk along the cliffs, only protected by an ankle high fence.

After a while, there was a break in the fence and Minkyun hopped his way over to the edge. The taps made a bit of gravel fall over the edge and Minkyun followed the small stones with his eyes. It was terrifying to look that far down with no safety, there was no small protective barrier like at Hoover Dam, it was just a sheer drop down into a deep canyon.  
While it felt scary, Minkyun didn't fear it and felt an excitement rush over him with the adrenaline in his body. 

It quickly made Yuto nervous, he had shuffled over to the edge for a bit but backed up when he saw how deep it went.

“Minkyun… be careful,” he mumbled.

“It’s fine, many people stand here,” Minkyun argued.

“That doesn’t prove anything,” the other answered but didn’t push further. Instead, he got out his camera to freeze the other’s stupidity through a photo.

When Minkyun noticed the spotlight, he dramatically spread his arms and beamed a contagious smile that made Yuto grin behind his device. With the picture shot, Minkyun waved for Yuto to come over but the other was hesitant. 

"Come, it's fine," Minkyun tried to convince.

Yuto set a few steps onto the look-out but stopped halfway, Minkyun accepted the deal and walked over. He got out his phone and pulled Yuto next to him.  
With an arm over Yuto's shoulder, he really noticed how small the other was. In reality, it wasn't _that_ much of a difference but somehow Minkyun was very aware of everything about the other, the stable stance yet nervous attitude, the low height but sturdy built. He almost forgot why he had pulled Yuto close, what they were doing, only the phone in his view reminded him of the situation. With the front camera showing them together, something felt… right.

Showing a few different expressions, Minkyun took their photos and stepped back. Checking the images, Minkyun suddenly felt incredibly awkward and quickly went to the edge of the look-out again, letting his mind be cleared up by the wind blowing over the rocky sight, yet failing to ease his heart, realising there was no denying it.

After being called to walk further, he did notice Yuto sometimes sneaking a picture of him, but he didn't interact with it and only sometimes returned the favour, slowly filling his camera roll with freeze frames of the other.  
It felt so natural being with Yuto. He played around and sometimes was surprisingly loud, but even through the rush of feelings going through him, Minkyun felt relaxed.

After a lot of walking and admiring, they were now seated on a bench overlooking the Canyon, snacking on some of the things they had bought before.

"Shall we go find something proper to eat?" Yuto suggested as he stretched his body. "Finally have a decent dinner?"

"It's indeed been 3 days and we have yet to have a proper dinner at the right time," Minkyun recalled.

Yuto chuckled. "Yeah, with the wedding day… I don't remember."

"The dinner didn't go through with the wedding cancelled," Minkyun informed, "we stuck to alcohol and… we must've gotten snacks but I can't recall either."

"True, and the day after we were all too sick for anything more than a minimal amount of dumplings," Yuto summarized with a chuckle, "and also 'pancakes at 3 a.m.', I wouldn't say is anything proper either."

"Let's eat well today, then."

"Okay, but what?"

"We can just go to the town with the pancakes and see if they have anything better," Minkyun shrugged, "let's have some good American steak."

Yuto heavily agreed with the suggestion of good meat but they took their time meandering back to the car. With the sun going down again, Minkyun realized the vacation had gone over its halfway point, meaning they had to go home again in a couple days. 

Yuto strolled a few steps in front of Minkyun, he seemed to be lost in thought as he gazed towards the horizon. Luckily, it made it so he didn't notice the other staring holes into him. Minkyun wasn't paying attention to where he was looking with how much was going through his mind today. Maybe it was a little too soon to start something again, if Yuto would even start something with him, but Minkyun couldn’t deny that he liked Yuto, it made sense even. He had felt a little too attracted to Yuto to just have it be a friendly interest, but with his failing relationship feeling like normal, he had forgotten what proper love was like.  
Now, with that ‘but I’m in a relationship already’ feeling out of the way, his heart finally seemed to scream at him who it really wanted to love. 

He sighed and caught up to the other, walking to the car.

The town they entered looked a lot more lively during daytime. They headed for the same petrol station to fill the car again, to make sure the tank was full for the next drive. Having failed last time, Yuto had once again offered to be the one to fill it. Minkyun, meanwhile, looked for a, this time, decent restaurant. 

"Was Gregor not there today?" Minkyun joked when Yuto stepped back in the car. 

The comment made Yuto just roll his eyes while growing a smirk.

"Found a restaurant yet?" he asked.

"Yeah," Minkyun answered and pulled out of the petrol station to head to their dinner.

Yuto nervously eyed the menu in front of him, Minkyun guessed why and shushed him from questioning the pricing. He had already figured Yuto would be against this restaurant, which is why he hadn't told him anything until they were seated at a table for two.

"Pick what you like," Minkyun assured, "do you want to get a starter?"

"Hmm. I'm more one for starters than desserts," Yuto answered. "You?"

"Yeah, same…"

They gave their decisions to the waiter that greeted them. Yuto had offered to be the designated driver but Minkyun didn’t feel like stepping away from just water, so they kept their drinks simple. 

Minkyun felt a lot more awkward now, he felt a little childish under his own nervousness and kept quiet for a while.

“So, have you been enjoying yourself?” he asked, sipping at his water.

“Of course, my camera roll is nearly full, I fear,” Yuto used as evidence that he was having a blast. “It has been nice here.”

“Even without a romantic partner?” Minkyun joked.

“What?”

“Before, you wondered if I would have fun ‘even though I’m not with some cute partner on a romantic trip.’” Minkyun started to mumble, realizing he might be sounding odd, “I wondered if it counted for you yourself too.”

Their starters arrived while Yuto had a wide eyed look of confusion, making the waitress wonder if she had given the wrong meal. Minkyun assured her everything was fine, and she continued her job at the next table.

“What do you mean?” Yuto wondered, taking a bite of his food.

“Nothing, I’m just bullying you,” Minkyun laughed, starting his own meal too. “Do you even have a girlfriend...boyfriend?"

" _If_ I had one, it would be boyfriend. But, no, I'm not in a relationship currently, I would've said so if I was."

Yuto was starting to shift his eyes and Minkyun found the embarrassment adorable, so he pushed the topic further. "You don't have something going on with Seungjun?"

"What?! No? Where'd you get that idea from?"

"He seems fond of you, and just brought you along one day," Minkyun tried, although he didn't believe they were together anyway.

"Oh, back then I had only just transferred here. We met through a project and he started to drag me around a bunch after finding out I didn't really have any friends," Yuto laughed at the memory. "He is just overly caring."

"Yeah, I can't deny that," Minkyun chuckled. He steered the topic to the past, asking Yuto where he had lived before this and shared some of his own childhood stories. With Minkyun's glaring interest, Yuto told him he would take him to his hometown once, since he was going back there again soon anyway and his parents always enjoyed him bringing someone along. The prospect of another trip with Yuto got Minkyun excited, having Yuto invite him, made his heartbeat pick up. 

By the time the starters had left and they were halfway through the main course, they were deep in conversation, finding the things they had in common or were polar opposites on, yet enjoying the insight the other had. Time seemed to fly by and Minkyun paid for their dinner before Yuto could argue against him for it. 

"Why are you _that_ against me paying for you every time," Minkyun asked when they were seated in the car, going back to the hotel.

"I just don't want to leech off you, that isn't too weird."

"But I said I decided to pay for all this already, just accept it."

"You had decided to pay all this for _her_ ," Yuto corrected.

"That doesn't matter. Just let me pay, alright? No need to keep offering to pay your share. At least this vacation," Minkyun tried to settle the argument.

"No, but—"

"Yuto," Minkyun interrupted with a smile, "let me. OK?"

The other sighed. "Fine, alright, you pay for our next two dinners."

Minkyun tapped Yuto's thigh playfully before he shifted gear. "No. Everything else too."

"The other _meals_ too," Yuto tried.

"Alright, the meals at least then," Minkyun shook his head, endeared by the other's stubbornness. "Although, I also don't want to hear you bargain about the prices of Disneyland."

Yuto leaned forward to try and meet his driver's gaze. "The what?"

"Uhm… nothing."

"That's where we are flying?"

"So far for keeping this whole trip a surprise..."

"You managed to keep Hoover Dam a surprise at least," Yuto snickered. "But we are actually going to Disneyland?"

"Yepp.” The confirmation sounded. “We have to wake up at 8 a.m. to fly there tomorrow and then we’ll stay there the next day. The day after that will be our flight home."

"Wow," Yuto awed at the plans, "you really went all out."

"Oh, Disney was completely self indulgent,” Minkyun admitted, "I doubt she would have enjoyed it much, but I just want to go…"

"What?! Who wouldn't enjoy being taken to Disneyland?"

"I'm sure there are many."

"People are weird," Yuto sat back in his seat and started to ask what Minkyun wanted to do at the theme park, getting all his questions answered properly, as Minkyun had just given up on keeping secrets. But also, he enjoyed how excited it got Yuto.

Back at their hotel, they noticed how sore their muscles had gotten from the two full days of walking. With Minkyun dropping on the bed, Yuto decided to finally make use of the bath, feeling his limbs deserved the relaxation. 

Noticing he was falling asleep, Minkyun got into his pajamas and settled under the sheets properly, spending time on his phone while waiting for Yuto to come back. Time passed slowly, his eyelids turned heavy quickly. The light of his phone kept him awake, but the boredom soon won over the brightness of the screen. Rather than be on his phone, he replayed things of today, replayed the laughs he got out of the other, the interesting stories Yuto told and the gorgeous scenery they had walked along together. 

Yuto was nothing like he had thought of him, he knew that by now. All the little details he learned only made his face heat up more and his heart raced countless times throughout the day. Before he knew it, the memories had made him close his eyes and he dozed off.

——————————

He couldn’t remember when Yuto had come back and wondered how the alarm was set up. The annoying noise woke the both of them up. Minkyun tried to find his phone but it wasn’t anywhere close.

A low groan came from Yuto who turned off his blaring phone. 

“What time is it?”

“Eight. You said that is how late we had to get up?”

Minkyun relaxed his muscles. “Okay, good.”

“Your phone is over there,” Yuto said, pointing to the dresser underneath the TV opposite them. “You fell asleep holding it, so I found your charger and put it all there.”

That information caused Minkyun to feel a little shy. “Oh... thank you.” 

They got out of bed and did their morning routines. After quickly downing their breakfast and checking out, they made it to the car. Yuto offered to be the one to drive and after he had adjusted the driver’s seat, and Minkyun had installed the navigation, they headed off to the airport. In the three and a half hour drive, they mostly tried to wake up properly, while playing Minkyun’s playlist this time around. They also talked about the coming day a bunch, Minkyun explained the journey ahead and talked a little more about things of the theme park he had researched.

When they reached the city the airport was in, they kept quiet for Yuto to concentrate on the busy roads and confusing signs. The view along the roads was nothing to write home about, but the increase in temperature was impressive. Minkyun had expected Vegas to be the hottest they would encounter, since Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon both had ample wind to make it tolerable, but Phoenix was definitely a step above the last city. 

Braving the hotness, they made their way through the city. When the airport was getting close, Minkyun grabbed his phone from the stand to call out what terminal they had to follow, and after, how to get to the meeting place to drop off the car. Somehow, with minimal bickering, they made it in one go and they parked the car while Minkyun called the company he borrowed it from.

When they got all their baggage out of the boot, a kind man took over the keys and wished them well on the rest of their journey. 

The airport was rather small for what they were expecting. With all the obnoxiously huge structures they had been in so far, this one seemed… normal. It still had the over abundance of shops and space, but it wasn’t as imposing as most places had been and it was a little relaxing. Minkyun quickly hurried them to the correct terminal before finding the closest food place to get something from. 

Time ticked by slowly as they waited to board their flight. They had found a seat near a window and watched multiple planes taxi by. Around the time their terminal opened, both nearly didn’t catch it as they had been absorbed by boredom and staring into nothingness. Yuto tapped Minkyun on the shoulder when he saw others line up to board. Getting their things together, they joined the group of passengers and made their way into the metal bird. 

While Minkyun was, by now, used to flying a bunch, as his job often required him to do so, Yuto seemed a little nervous. 

"Are you alright?" Minkyun asked when they were both seated.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Yuto breathed.

"Do you not like flying?"

"That’s not it, the descent just always hurts my ears so I tend to avoid flying,” Yuto explained, fiddling with things around him. “It only makes me anxious since I know it'll hurt me."

"Do you have those pressure relieving things?" 

“Yepp.” Yuto tapped the pocket of his shorts. “Although they don’t do _that_ much.”

“If there is anything I can do, just say so,” Minkyun offered but Yuto just gave him a smile and said it was fine. He seemed to be dealing with his stress through listening to music, as he quickly got his headphones out and sank into the chair when the beats started playing. Minkyun let him be and sat back to enjoy the ascent.

The flight wasn’t long. A soft playlist and occasional conversation got them through the journey quite quickly. Yuto was concentrating heavily during the descent, trying his best to get himself through the discomfort. Slightly mindlessly, Minkyun placed a hand on the other’s knee in an attempt to support him. Yuto’s lips curled up but he stayed quiet until they touched ground. 

He groaned taking the earplugs out and rubbed his jaw hoping to relieve the pain quickly.

“Do you want some gum?” Minkyun asked.

Yuto nodded and was handed a packet Minkyun had in his hand luggage.

With Yuto seeming fairly woozy from the plane ride, Minkyun led him around gently, finding their place to receive back their luggage and then silently taking him to where they needed to go: a pick up point for visitors of Disneyland. A large bus waited for them and it took them to their destination in a swift half an hour. 

The aggressively loud passengers didn’t help Yuto’s drowsiness, and when they finally arrived, they stepped out into more loudness, but this time it was because of the massive theme park that greeted them. Minkyun himself started growing a slight headache by now, the long journey and continuous assault on his senses piling up.  
He didn’t bother explaining anything to his companion, he just made sure everything was taken care of and didn’t take longer than needed getting through the staff and to the hotel.

The hotel nearly scared them. Even though it was supposed to be all magical, the mascots and large architecture made them a little fearful. Through the crowd, Minkyun tried to locate the reception to get their keys. 

Finally the noises deafened and it felt like their ears were ringing when they walked into their room, decorated with stylish wood and forest details.  
Two large beds took up most of the room and recognizable chipmunks were painted on the walls they stood against. A small couch, dresser and desk with a mirror filled up the wall opposite the beds. Attached to the room was a bathroom with everything needed.

“Why two beds?” Yuto wondered, knowing this was meant for Minkyun and his partner, separate beds seemed odd.

“Almost all rooms here have it, since this place is kinda for families and young children, you know?”

“Yeah, fair. The terrifying mascots showed as much…” Yuto remarked. “There weren’t too many kids, though.”

“Yeah, I’m glad we didn’t go during summer,” Minkyun breathed, “it’s already busy, imagine if it was actually any of the peak days…”

“True, this seems like a good day,” Yuto agreed, and finally rested as he sat on the bed. 

“So, what do you wanna do?” Minkyun said, placing his bags on the small sofa.

“I don’t know, are we already going _into_ the park?”

“Let’s not. I hadn’t planned on it,” Minkyun admitted through a tired sigh, “and with my headache, I don’t think I’ll be any fun in a park.”

“Can I nap then? My head is heavy.” Yuto looked at him with exhausted eyes and a careful smile.

“Of course,” Minkyun answered instantly, “I’ll set an alarm this time, though.”

Yuto yawned. “Yeah, smart.”

With it being early afternoon by now, it gave them a few hours of shut-eye which they gladly made use of. 

When the alarm yelled at them to wake up again, they settled on going to the reception to find a brochure of a fun restaurant or place with food. In between the multiple papers, Minkyun quickly got distracted by a pretty view. A large body of water next to a prettily lit pier. It seemed like a busy part of the city, so there should be a food place somewhere close to it. On top of that, the beach seemed perfect for airing out his stuffy headache to clear himself up for the intensity of Disneyland the next day.  
Yuto agreed to the proposal and Minkyun got them an Uber soon after, transporting them to the nearest beach within half an hour. The driver knew the area and recommended some places to grab food from. 

During the meal, the conversations were about everything and nothing, talking about simple things while they took in the bright lights and buzzing nightlife.  
When they had their stomachs filled, they finally made their way to the pretty beach, watching the sun set slowly. Salty air filled their nostrils and the calm waves eased their minds. The silence, that was only interrupted by occasional noises of society, guided them along the shoreline. 

“Oh!” Minkyun said suddenly. He bent down to grab something from the sand. “Seaweed!”

“Minkyun, don’t.” Yuto pulled up his nose at the smelly ocean greenery. 

“Come on, a souvenir from your trip!” Minkyun joked and walked up to Yuto who instantly put a distance between them.

“Minkyun,” he warned, yet it made the other’s grin widen and his steps increase. 

Yuto whipped his body around and set a course to wherever that seaweed was not, running along the waves, kicking up the sand while the wind brushed through his hair. Minkyun had a hard time keeping up with the other’s speedy legs, him being barely used to intense activities—like sprinting over loose sand to threaten your crush with wet flora.  
Yuto looked behind him and had a wide grin painted on his face, showing a big row of teeth and flashing little indented lines underneath his eyes. They didn’t care for how childish they looked, forgetting their surroundings as they were on an unknown beach they wouldn’t be returning to any time soon. 

With the limited exercise Minkyun was able to handle, his stamina depleted quickly and he stopped his chase, dropping the seaweed and letting his breath catch up. With the steps behind him stopping, Yuto halted his feet but kept a distance out of suspicion. Minkyun walked away from the threat and let himself drop on a clean part of the beach, feeling his heart still beat heavy against his chest. The pounding nearly increased when Yuto wandered over to him and took a seat on the soft sand. 

Minkyun stretched himself. “So,” he started when he had caught his breath again, “what are you going to do when we get home again?”

“I have a few more days off work, then it’s just back to the same routine,” Yuto hummed, his words said with a hint of disappointment.

“Yeah, same here, probably,” Minkyun agreed. “Although, I also have to sift through mine and her belongings.”

“Are you going to move?”

“The house was mine, she moved in with me, so no, _she_ will move out,” Minkyun answered promptly. “It’ll be weird having it empty again, but it feels like a relief at the same time,” he sighed, “I love it here, but I’m looking forward to being home.”

“Yeah, same...Everything will be the same, won’t it?”

“Probably? The drunk marriage thing we’ll work out in time, don’t worry about it,” Minkyun lazily gestured his hand to wave away any concern.

Yuto let his shoulders hang, setting his eyes to nothingness while his words were quiet. “Yeah, everything will be… the same.”

With the other’s attitude growing odd, Minkyun stayed quiet, not sure how to respond to it. Only the wind kept them company for a short moment. It was late, and a lot of couples were making evening walks, but they mostly gathered atop the pier next to them, creating lively noises for the wind to carry, yet they were far enough away to not be a bother. 

Yuto set his hands on the sand, drawing a meaningless pattern. When he spoke finally, his voice was unsure, as if it wanted to hold itself back.  
“Say, Kyun…” Yuto pushed through, staring into the distance. Having started, he grew a little fearful and hoisted up his knees to hug his arms around them.

“What’s up?” Minkyun asked.

“Can I tell you something that we can just… leave here in the US?”

“That sounds… ominous,” Minkyun joked, but Yuto stayed serious, so he matched the atmosphere. “Of course you can,” he continued lowly.

Yuto held his breath, he kept his eyes in front of him but didn’t seem to be focused on anything in view. 

With soft yet determined words, he spoke, “...I like you.”

It took Minkyun a second to process the words. They were said promptly, as if it was the end of the conversation, like Yuto didn’t expect an answer. Thus, Minkyun hesitated responding, he knew he liked the other and he wanted to say so, but the way Yuto confessed, wasn’t inviting him to reciprocate anything.

While Minkyun tried to get over his confusion, Yuto breathed a sigh of relief. “That felt good to say.”  
He let his legs go again and clapped his hands to get some sand off them. “Shall we go back to the hotel?”

“W—Wait,” Minkyun intercepted.

“What?”

“Don’t you want an answer?”

Yuto smiled awkwardly. “It’s fine. I more so just wanted to get this off my chest, as it has been years by now. Don’t worry about it.”

“Years?!” Minkyun repeated that piece of information.

"Yeah."

"...Since when?" Minkyun wanted to know.

Yuto sat himself comfortable again and played with a shell piece. “Not long after Jun introduced us…"

"Back then?!"

Yuto nodded. "Seungjun was the only one who knew, although Changyoon found out too after a while. That's also why they were so annoying about getting me on this trip,” he chuckled. 

“That does explain them pushing so much," Minkyun mumbled, "why didn't you tell me, though? Back then, I mean."

“Oh, I almost did, to be honest…” Yuto hummed, trying to keep his tone light. “When I first fell for you, I was an idiot that was too afraid to confess, and by the time I finally got some courage, you introduced your new girlfriend.” 

The words anchored and pulled Minkyun’s heart to the ground. “I’m...sorry.”

“No need to apologize for falling for someone else," Yuto shushed, "besides, even if I had confessed back then, that doesn’t mean we would’ve gotten together.”

“...Maybe we would’ve,” Minkyun mumbled, feeling a little guilty at what he had put Yuto through, even if he couldn’t have known, he felt bad about it.  
“Maybe we would have gotten together… because I like you now, maybe I would’ve fallen for you back then too, if you had opened my eyes to it.”

Despite the beautiful ocean scenery, this was far from the romantic confession Minkyun had in mind, yet his heart raced all the same coming clean to Yuto, who kept himself silent for a second before continuing. 

“You...what?”

“I like you too,” Minkyun admitted, “I know you might not believe me, but I do.”

“It’s only like a week after your last relationship—”

“And feelings had left that relationship long ago… so it’s not like I suddenly switched, if you’re going to argue that.”

Yuto shifted his position and stared at the shell in his hands. “Are you sure...? Isn’t it a bit...soon?”

“No,” Minkyun said, trying to sound as confident as he could. “I know I’ve made a lot of dumb and rash descicions. I might not be the smartest when it comes to love, but I know I like you, and I don’t see this as ‘too soon,’ I’ve already thought about that.”

Another quiet filled the night, Minkyun tried to think of anything more convincing to say, as Yuto seemed hesitant and disbelieving. He had been coming to a conclusion about this for a few days now, but he understood if Yuto saw it as rather quick.  
He tossed ideas in his mind, until Yuto let out a small laugh in nervousness.

“What’s so funny?” Minkyun asked anxiously.

“Nothing…”

“Then why are you laughing?”

“I don’t know,” Yuto answered, “I don’t know what to do.”

The casualness gave Minkyun some courage and he shuffled closer, bumping their shoulders together. He grabbed one of Yuto’s hands to play with the small yet sturdy digits. The shell they held, fell to the ground when Yuto let his hand relax as Minkyun intertwined their fingers.

“You really like me?” Yuto asked, still bewildered.

“I do,” Minkyun confirmed calmly, “you don’t believe me?”

“I just… I had told myself to see the wedding as a clear witnessing of you making a life promise to someone else, so I could get it through my skull that I had to forget my feelings,” Yuto explained, still keeping his tone awkwardly joke-y.  
“But then this vacation was decided and I only fell in love more. I confessed, hoping I could finally move on after just admitting it, which would be a good ending to it all.”

Minkyun grew a small smirk. “A good ending?”

“At least a good nail in the coffin,” Yuto chuckled, making the other laugh with him.

“Well, it ended differently I guess.”

“True… although there is still tomorrow, so it hasn’t ended yet,” Yuto said thankfully

Minkyun frowned suddenly and softly chuckled to himself. “Wouldn’t tomorrow have been really awkward if I didn’t like you back?”

“I managed to act normally around you for years now, I’m sure I would’ve managed tomorrow as well, if that was the case,” Yuto shrugged. “And I feel Disneyland would’ve distracted you enough to still make it enjoyable on your side.”

“Maybe...” Minkyun muttered and another short silence made a guilty feeling set in. “Man I feel like a dick inviting you to my wedding.”

Yuto looked at the other. “Why?”

“I don’t know," Minkyun sighed, "celebrating a relationship in front of someone that likes you, just...feels like a bit of a dick move. Although, not inviting you would’ve also been weird.”

“It’s fine.”

“I still feel like a dick,” Minkyun persisted and Yuto grew a little mischievous.

“I can make you feel like an even bigger dick," he jested.

“I don’t want to know, but what do you mean…?” Minkyun answered, making Yuto side-eye him. 

“I cried when you announced your engagement.”

Minkyun recalled that day and let his head fall. “Oh, god, I even got you all together too, to celebrate it.”

The dejection made Yuto giggle, finding the situation humorous. “It’s alright, don’t worry,” he consoled even though he caused the dismay. “I never told you, so you couldn’t have known.”

“I know, but hindsight is making me feel like an awful person.”

“It’s alright, really,” Yuto untwined their fingers and curled his hand against the other’s palm, hoping to gain some warmth.

“I’ll make up for it,” Minkyun decided.

“There’s no need, let’s keep it in the past...” Yuto shortly snuggled his head against the other’s shoulder. "There is nothing to make up for."

With his head resting on top of the other's, Minkyun let himself calm down again, only taking in the contact and hearing nothing but Yuto’s soft exhales and his own heartbeat thumping against his chest.

Nothing needed to be said further, they both didn’t want to ruin this moment and while there was a certain nervousness, it also felt incredibly relaxing and freeing. Even though nothing changed right now, they were still at the beach—just a lot closer, something felt different, yet he didn’t know how to act upon it so he just stayed seated, feeling Yuto’s weight lean against him.  
When a gust of wind blew past, Yuto retracted his free hand into the sleeve of his jacket.

"Let's go back," Minkyun offered.

Yuto sat himself back up and took a deep sigh. “Sure...”

“Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, it’s just a little… surreal.”

Minkyun stood up and patted the sand off his shorts. “Why?”

Yuto mirrored his actions and finished them off with a questioning look at the other. “I’ve liked you for years and you suddenly just said that you like me back…”

Minkyun quickly tapped his phone to secure them a ride back to the hotel. “Truth be told, I have a feeling I’ve liked you for a while too, I just never considered anyone else, because I was with her…”

They walked over the sand towards the road, walking to a part of the road where a car could pick them up.

“Are you sure you want to date me already?” Yuto asked and Minkyun turned to face him.

“I do. If you see it as too soon, I get that. But I want to go out with you.”

The tips of Yuto’s ears instantly spiked deep red and he turned his eyes away while they squinted from his growing grin. “Then… let’s go out.”

“Only in the US, though?” Minkyun grinned

“What?”

“You’re the one that said it was ‘something that we can leave in the US’.”

A soft tap landed on Minkyun’s arm while he got a notification saying their driver was here.

“Of course not,” Yuto muttered and Minkyun beamed a smile.

Surprising enough, the comfortable atmosphere Yuto brought, returned quickly and they regrew their normal dynamic quickly, even with how their relationship had changed. They made smalltalk with the driver, felt a lot less annoyed by the busyness of Disneyland—although it was also just a lot quieter with the park having closed for the day—and got ready for bed the same way they had the entire week. 

Yuto had taken the bed closest to the window and was seated at the edge, staring out onto a part of the park while Minkyun walked out of the bathroom.  
It had been the first time in ages Minkyun had a bed for himself again. He wished it to be filled, but it felt weird already proposing to share a bed while there was another available, even though they had been doing it the entire week, there was something different about asking while they had another free bed.  
He walked over and Yuto looked rosy from the shower he had taken, giving him a blush of heat from warm water and rising butterflies as Minkyun sat next to him. 

Now that he was seated, Minkyun had no idea _why_ he sat down on the bed, it wasn’t like he had anything more to say, and even if he had, his mind was drawing a blank with the current situation. 

Yuto looked up at him with expectant eyes, making Minkyun chuckle, “this is really awkward, isn’t it?”

Yuto bursted out into a nervous laughter and he took Minkyun with him. 

“Tomorrow is the final day, huh?” Yuto sighed after he caught himself.

“Yepp.”

“Man, this is one weird vacation…”

“We got drunk, married, went to random tourist-spots and then started dating,” Minkyun summarized, “Yeah, this certainly is an odd week.”

“And tomorrow is still the park.”

“True,” Minkyun curled his lips.

“What time do we have to get up?”

Minkyun gave Yuto the time and some general information about the park, how they were going to navigate and how things like the fast pass he bought worked. With the early time the park opened, they decided to sleep, making Minkyun move to his own bed. The whole week had been a lot, so many things happened and so many things changed. It had been many days yet it nearly felt like one afternoon. He went from ‘soon to be wed,’ to just a man on a random road trip with a casual friend, to going to Disneyland with his boyfriend.  
He turned around to look at the other, who seemed just as unable to sleep, even with how tired they were.

“Can I… hug you?” Yuto asked with his sheets nearly pulled over his head.

The corners of Minkyun’s lips curled themselves up and he lifted his sheets to invite Yuto. A small heat snuggled itself up against his chest and Minkyun quickly took it in his arms. Restlessness left them both and they contently closed their eyes, drifting to dreamland together.

**Author's Note:**

> Big shoutout to Phi for betareading this as always and putting up with me <3


End file.
